Belated Sad News On “Jim TreshFan”
Many of you knew “Jim TreshFan” from his comments and postings on this site.
I knew that Jim was not feeling well since he shared this with me in a note on June 12, 2010:
I’m afraid I have some bad news that will not only prohibit me from posting all that much at WasWatching, but from commenting much as well. This past Wednesday morning I was rushed to the hospital after passing out at daily Mass. I was kept there for a few days for tests and observation and—well—I have cancer. And I have it quite bad. So bad that they cannot operate to remove the growth in my lung, but will need to submit me to a regimen of radiation and chemo therapy. I start treatment next week.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to give you some better news down the line.
Jim and I kept in touch after that note and he seemed to be doing better. And, he was back to leaving comments here at the blog. But, then, on May 18, 2011, he sent me this update:
Are things back to normal for me? I can’t say. I’m back on my feet. I’m back to work. So that is normal enough I suppose. But I still have (and will always have) health issues. A few weeks ago I passed out during Mass and was rushed to the ER. The priest even gave me the Anointing and absolved me of all my sins. So apparently they thought it was quite serious. For my part I don’t know. I’ll just take each day as it comes, or as they say, “one game at a time.”
Yet, we continued to see Jim here. So, I figured that he was hanging in there.
Recently, to me, it felt like it had been a while since I saw anything from Jim. So, I checked, and saw that we had not heard from him since May.
That led me to find out today that he passed away on June 1st this year.
I never met Jim in person. And, I never spoke to him on the phone or elsewhere. Most of my dealings with him were via this blog or an occasional email. But, in my exchanges with him, it seemed like he was a really good guy. And, for sure, he was a huge Yankees fan.
Fifty-six is too young to die. And, I am very sad to share this belated news on his passing with you.
Prayers for the family in their time of grief. Sad to hear the news. RIP, Jim.
i am sorry to hear this Steve.. God always takes the Young!.. Prays go out to Jim’s family..lets hope he is watching down on the yankees and send the spirits of yesterday to the boys in the bronx.. They sure can use some divine intervention at this point!…
Thanks for sharing this Steve and thanks to Jim for sharing his thoughts on the Yankees and being a part of this online community. You will be missed.
Sad news. Puts things in perspective.
Way too young (spoken as a 60 y/o). I enjoyed reading his thoughts. He will be missed.
I am still kicking myself that it took me 3 1/2 months to realize that Jim was truly missing. I did email him about two weeks ago, when I picked up on it, and got no reply. Now, I understand why.
I guess I just figured that he was quiet, like a lot of others, because the team was not going well in late July and August. But, I should not have assumed.
I feel terrible over the news of his passing, for him, and for all his loved ones. But, I also feel bad that we’re finding out about it now, four months after he passed away.
He will be missed. This is terrible news.
Steve: How did you find out about this? How did you not only come across the obituary but know that this is him?
Jim did seem like a nice guy, even when you were arguing a point with him in one of the threads.
I have a big mouth, but I never know what to say at times like this. If any of his family ever read this, my deepest condolences to them.
Damn… My condolences to his family
Steve L. wrote:
Don’t. It’s the nature of the internets that people come and go for any number of reasons, unless you know a person’s moves 24/7 there isn’t much you can do.
Kinda reminds me of when Jim Dean passed @ Bronx Banter.
http://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/archives/1070922.html
With all that said, it’s neat that we have such a small community here, and I’m glad to have made online and offline acquaintances.
Corey wrote:
I realized he was MIA about two weeks ago and sent him a note. When I never heard back, today, I assumed the worst and did a search for the obit. (I knew his name.) And, when found it, and saw the DOB, I knew it was him – since he always told us that he had the same birthday as Tom Tresh.
I sent a tweet to his niece, the one he told us about, with a link to this post. I hope that she sees it and shares this with his family so that our thoughts, prayers and condolences get through to them.
What terrible news. God bless his soul.
Terrible news. Condolences to his family, he was a always the gentleman. Strange thing was that I could have sworn I saw a post of his recently. God bless, Jim, you’ll be missed. And prayers to his family.
I am very sorry to hear this. I always thought he had one of the best handles out there for whatever reason.
Raf, I was hanging around in that game thread when the Jim Dean news was announced. That was surreal, and very sad.
@ Steve L.: I also feel bad that we’re finding out about it now, four months after he passed away.
Steve, you shouldn’t feel bad. He felt close enough to you to let you know he was sick. Jim, like a lot of us look at you as a friend, given all the years we’ve gotten to know you and respect your work on this blog.
Jim will be missed here. I also liked that handle. Always reminded me of a Tom Tresh card I treasured when I was about 12. I just turned 50, it certainly does put things in perspective.
I’m very grateful to have this place to post now and again, and share thoughts with this community. Thanks for the news, Steve, even though it was sad, it’s good to know and acknowledge.
@ redbug:
@ Greg H.:
Thanks.
I am pretty sure this was Jim’s first comment here:
http://waswatching.com/2008/07/13/july-13th-the-blue-jays/#comment-35971
So, he spent parts of five seasons (2008 through 2012) with us on the blog. That’s a long time. I am glad that we had that time with him and got to know him a bit. He was always a rational poster and sometimes funny too. And, he knew his Yankees history, that’s for sure.
Hearing about this constitutes a true loss in the family. Very sad to hear that Jim is gone although one can only hope that he is now no longer suffering from that horrible disease.
RIP Jim… I hope you’re watching the Yanks up there and looking over us down here. Cheers.
FYI, I got a message from Jim’s niece today. It said:
I passed along your blog post to my family. It was lovely to see all the comments and to see that he was the same man online as he was off, erudite and kind. His six brothers and sisters all gathered in Rochester during his last week, and three of them were with him at the end.
I wanted to share this with you all, so that you would know that your thoughts, etc., made it to Jim’s family.